Harvesters
The Aliens are a nameless race of intelligent, space-faring extraterrestrials who travel across the galaxy with the intent of finding worlds to conquer and harvest for resources. Then after they finish with one world they move onto the next, bringing their entire civilization in massive motherships as they do so and eliminating any and all opposition. History Moving as one massive series of collective wholes, their entire civilization is apparently nomadic in nature, preferring the violent conquest of other worlds to sustain themselves long-term. Preferring the accommodation of massive motherships, they travel across the universe with the intent of harvesting the natural resources of the worlds they encounter, while eliminating any and all opposition that might oppose them via armed conflict. When all resources on a conquered world are finally exhausted, their entire populace reenters their mothership before departing to find another world to besiege and harvest.Independence Day: Official Novelization''Despite their normadic nature, they still have their own home planet, which is revealed by the mysterious alien A.I at the end of the War of 2016. This nearly happened to humanity during the War of 1996. Arriving in massive, city-sized vessels, the aliens used human satellites to relay signals between vessels and coordinate their attacks, destroying nearly every major city in the world during their initial strike, including Moscow and Washington, D.C.. Crippled, but determined to resist the invaders, human forces worldwide began launching numerous battles against their newfound enemies, with disastrous results. However, during the aftermath of the battle in Los Angeles, an alien was captured and taken to Area 51, a facility previously thought to be a myth. However, during the removal of its suit, the alien broke free from its restraints and killed the physicians working on it. Afterward, a confrontation took place between the alien and U.S. officials in Area 51 during which the alien viciously demanded freedom from the facility via a telepathic link with a surgeon. However, during the confrontation, the creature telepathically linked its mind with then-President Thomas Whitmore, and began assaulting him with mental images detailing the aliens' previous invasions of other worlds. The alien was killed shortly afterward and President Whitmore, visibly shaken by the ordeal, ordered the nuclear bombardment of an alien Destroyer over Houston, Texas, an attack that inevitably ended in failure. However, almost by accident, a weakness was discovered by David Levinson on the morning of July 4th. Hijacking the alien signal, David devised a plan to upload a virus into the central computer of the alien mothership in orbit above Earth. In turn, this would deactivate the alien vessels' shields and render their fleets vulnerable to attack, but only for a few minutes. Flying to the alien mothership in an alien fighter captured before the war, David and Captain Steven Hiller would successfully plant the virus and enable a massive coordinated attack on Earth against the aliens. Having also deployed a nuclear device onboard the mothership, the duo was forced to make a quick and harrowing escape amid heavy alien opposition. Shortly afterward, the mothership was obliterated by the device, ensuring the disorientation and subsequent destruction of their fleets on Earth.Independence Day'' Although defeated, many aliens survived. Some managed to establish a level of resistance against humanity, but were ultimately either eliminated or captured by human forces. The remaining aliens were eliminated within days in the United States and Europe, but it took several months for the resistance in other countries to be eliminated due to a lack of air power. This proves especially true in the Congo, where the alien resistance fights for ten years before being defeated. Independence Day: Crucible However, as revealed nearly 20 years later, the alien force that attacked Earth didn't constitute the bulk of their civilization's might. While the humans had used the aliens' technology to prepare, they were unaware that the aliens had sent a distress signal into deep space, asking for help from the rest of the species, which then traveled all the way to Earth just to avenge the rest of their species and finish what they started. Beyond this, we know that there currently exists an intergalactic war between many different Alien species and the ID Aliens. There exists an entire resistance made up of various Alien species from across the known universe, who suffered great loss after the ID ET's harvested their own planets. Prior to the Harvester's arrival to Earth, one such robotic entity attempts to communicate with Earth and warn them of the impending attack. Unfortunately ESD shoots down the friendly AI before the warning can be passed. Later on, we learn that this AI "Orb" holds vital information concerning the whereabouts of this intergalactic resistance as well as blue prints of powerful weapons, designed to kill ID Aliens. Humanity is one of the only species to ever mount a successful defense against the aliens. Many other species were not as developed and were subsequently destroyed without remorse or mercy by the aliens. Only one other known species has even come close to this level of resistance, and that was a non-organic alien refugee who was the last of its species and being hunted down by the aliens. Roland Emmerich has expressed interest in a third film being about humanity going after the aliens in deep space, in cooperation with other alien life forms. With each film, more is learned about the aliens. Name The aliens, interestingly, have no name. Even in Independence Day: Resurgence, set 20 years after the events of the first film, the closest the humans ever come to actually naming the aliens is calling the creatures "Them". This could be that humans have named the aliens but refuse to call them by their name because they see them as savage monsters. The mysterious aliens have yet to be named in the films, and little else is known about them other than the basic overview of their species. A popular fan nickname for the aliens, however, is "The Space Locusts", based off of a quote from Thomas Whitmore. The aliens also have been called "Harvesters" following the release of Independence Day: Resurgence, however, the term "Harvester" refers to a Harvester Ship, and not the creatures themselves. Behavior The aliens are aggressive in nature. Nomadic, they construct large, technologically advanced spaceships capable of holding their entire civilization and exterminate the populations of countless other inhabited worlds and harvesting their resources until the planets have nothing left, when they then move onto the next one. The aliens make no attempt to coexist with the native populations and instead prefer to wipe all life (and resistance) out completely and then steal their planet. The aliens are not insects, but, apparently due to their locust-like behavior, the aliens have a hive mind and structure with several castes, much like insect species. There is even a queen that presumably oversees breeding of the species, that all the other aliens would die to protect. Physiology .]] Physically, they are no more or less durable than humans, having similar tolerances to environmental conditions as humans. They also breathe oxygen. However, they're much more slender in appearance than humans with a quasi-humanoid body that features three-jointed limbs. Somewhat shorter than humans, they have two long arms with four fingers each, and two feet with two toes. The rear section of their head is enlarged, and large pupil-less eyes (or eye-like organs) adorn their faces. A number of long, grasping tentacles protrude from the back of their suits. Lacking vocal chords or even mouths, they communicate using a sophisticated form of telepathy and are also able to exert mind control to "possess" other beings, or at least partially; by attaching tentacles to their necks and using the other species' vocal chords to communicate their message with a non-telepathic species. In some cases, the aliens are also shown to be capable of projecting their thoughts into another lifeform's mind in the form of visions, and killing or injuring other lifeforms with their minds. It is also revealed in Independence Day: Resurgence that humans have the ability to share consciousness with the aliens, as shown by some humans (such as Dr. Brackish Okun, Thomas J. Whitmore and Dikembe Umbutu) having first-hand visions of the aliens and what they plan to do to their species and planet. A neural connection with the aliens, presumably can be made through physical contact with an alien, or by suffering its own telepathic assaults. Some encounters result in lengthy comas, while others can pass briefly, leaving the host with a permanent connection to the "Hive Mind". The Hive Mind seems to be activated when in close enough proximity to approaching alien entities, or if a telepathic pulse is being dispersed throughout the collective horde. Alien messages and specific dialogue can also be broadcasted and intercepted through this connection. Despite this, humans with a connection to the hive mind cannot communicate back with telepathy, they can only receive the messages, as they do not have extra-sensory perception. Likely due to their physiology, the aliens rely on wearing armored biological environment suits that are biomechanical in nature and composition. However, at least some aliens on-board select ships, such as the Colony Mothership destroyed in the War of 1996, appear to be free from the need to wear these suits, indicating that there may be a wide variety of reasons for these suits to be worn. This may include combat, exposure to non-native atmospheres and environments, and desire for increased general capability (such as additional dexterity provided by the suit's tentacles). It appears that the Harvester Queens may have provided some inspiration for the design of these suits, as the queen aboard the Harvester Ship is seen with tentacles on her body prior to entering her suit, as well as a broader physical appearance that more closely resembles the suit. Technology The technology of the aliens is clearly far more advanced to those of the human race and their former enemies. However, both humanity and some of their past enemies have adapted portions of their technology, partially eliminating this advantage. They have mastered the construction and operation of directed energy weapons, deflector shields, and massive spacecraft. Alien technology is both mechanical and biological in nature, hence their very organic appearance. In essence, their technology and material are 'grown' rather than manufactured. Military The aliens travel around the galaxy with the massive and monstrous Harvester Ship that is around 4000 km in diameter. These massive ships are controlled by a Harvester Queen, the main individual of the Alien species that can order the release of numerous smaller Colony Motherships, which are still considerably large and measure approximately 400 km in diameter. Each Colony Mothership has 83 city-sized ships called City Destroyer, with a diameter of 25 km. Many Harvester ships exist, each commanded by a respective Queen. When one Queen is killed in action, her ship and fleet are called back to the horde of other Harvesters for a new Queen to take over. Inside these massive ships exist vast ecosystems and even indigenous plant life as well as what is assumed to be water. Given that the ID Aliens breathe oxygen the same as we do, it would make a lot of sense for them to grow plants and preserve water. Harvester Ships provide entire ecosystems and use planet cores for fuel. Spanning 1,000 miles in diameter, Harvester ships are gigantic mother ships. Their purpose is to latch to a planet, drill deep into the planet's core and extract its contents for means of refueling as well as advancing technology. When invading an inhabited planet, the aliens' military tactics consist of large-scale attacks, destroying the major cities around the globe simultaneously using the Destroyers, and following afterward gathering its natural resources and drilling into the planet's core and harvesting its thermal energies to refuel their ships that would destroy the planet in the process. Gallery Id4 american gallery.jpg Mojo alien.jpg ''Independence Day: Resurgence'' IDR alien queen.png Behind the Scenes *''Independence Day'' was created by Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin, who also created Stargate (which is also a movie about aliens). They wanted to create a different sort of alien invasions, since in most movies alien invasions start furtively. *Director Roland Emmerich tasked production designer Patrick Tatopoulos with designing the aliens. Tatopoulos had actually come up with two different designs for the aliens, one that was more fearsome looking and large, and another that was smaller and more frail; closer to a traditional alien design. Tatopoulos asked Emmerich to pick which one he liked better. Emmerich liked both so much that he decided to use the first design as their protective bio-suits and the second design for the actual aliens themselves. This would provide the audience with a deception and surprise them when the actual appearance of the frail and tiny aliens was revealed. It would also show that looks could be deceiving, as the aliens are far deadlier than they appear to be. *The alien vocal effects were voiced by Frank Welker. *A small statue of an Independence Day alien was seen in the 1998 movie Godzilla (also directed by Roland Emmerich), on the broadcast booth on Madison Square Garden. *In the first Independence Day film, the aliens were portrayed by puppets. In the second film, they were portrayed by computer animation. References External links * Meet the Alien Queen (Instagram by aaronsimscreative) * Meet the Colonist (Instagram by aaronsimscreative) * Meet the Soldier (Instagram by aaronsimscreative) Category:Aliens Category:Independence Day Category:Independence Day: Resurgence